Men's basketball: Pac-12 teams look for fast starts

Playing well in nonconference could lead to success in March

That will be Sean Miller's sentiment when Colorado is competing in the Charleston Classic next week.

Arizona's head coach has the team to beat in the Pac-12 this season.

But Miller understands the only way the Pac-12 as a whole is going to earn respect from the NCAA Tournament selection committee in March is by winning big games in November and December.

"I can remember a long time ago when I played, I would always cheer against the teams in our conference because I didn't want them to do as well as us," Miller, a legendary Pitt point guard back in the day, said at the Pac-12 basketball media day in San Francisco last week. "Those days have ended a long time ago. This year in particular, every time a Pac-12 team plays a non-conference opponent, we want them to win."

Last season the Pac-12 struggled during nonconference play and was ranked 10th in conference RPI behind the Mountain West (fifth), Atlantic 10 (seventh), Missouri Valley (eighth) and Conference USA (ninth).

Cal (45th in RPI) was the only team from the conference to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bears lost a play-in game in Dayton, Ohio, against fellow No. 12 seed South Florida.

Washington, the Pac-12 regular-season champion, settled for the NIT.

Colorado carried the banner for the conference with a memorable upset of UNLV before losing to former Big 12 rival Baylor. But the Buffs had to win four games in four nights at the Pac-12 Tournament to get into the field.

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The momentum that Arizona lost to CU at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in March, Miller didn't even lobby for an NCAA Tournament bid.

He knew the Wildcats (79 in RPI) weren't dance worthy based on the entire season's body of work.

"We all need to feel like Sean feels in that regard. We have to pull for each other," CU head coach Tad Boyle said. "The problem is we all recruit against each other and we beat each other up there. We play against each other in league play and try to scratch each others' eyes out. But in November and December we need to bond together and root for each other.

"When Arizona wins a big game, it helps Colorado. And when Colorado wins a big game, it helps UCLA."

Some of the marquee games the Pac-12 needs to win its share of include: UCLA vs. San Diego State (Dec. 1), at Texas (Dec. 8) and vs. Missouri (Dec. 28); Arizona vs. Florida (Dec. 15); Stanford at North Carolina State (Dec. 18); Cal at Wisconsin (Dec. 2) and vs. UNLV (Dec. 9).

"The last couple years I think many of our coaches felt like we got a raw deal," Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said. "Part of it was some tough losses early in the season. Teams improved but didn't get the credit and had to play catch up. And we were underexposed.

"When teams were playing well and playing great games they weren't seen. This year is a game changer."

Scott is referring to the Pac-12 Network airing 150 games nationally, in addition to the conference appearing on the ESPN family of networks 46 times and Fox 22 times.

The Buffs play former Big 12 nemesis Kansas on Dec. 8 at Allen Fieldhouse (noon, ESPN2).

"I want to be in a position where we don't have to win the conference tournament to go to the NCAA Tournament," Boyle said of upgrading CU's non-conference schedule. "We want to go there and feel like if we have a good showing at the conference tournament, we're going to get a bid."

Arizona and UCLA are ranked 12th and 13th, respectively, in the preseason Associated Press poll. The Wildcats (15 first-place votes, 403 total votes) edged the Bruins (16, 402) in the Pac-12 media poll.

"I think it's always important because they are truly national brands," Scott said. "They are both historic programs in college basketball. UCLA is the winningest program. So having them and Arizona having such star-studded incoming classes and being up there in the rankings helps our image and reputation as a conference."

Cal was picked to finish third in the conference with reigning NIT champion Stanford fourth and Washington fifth.

The Buffs, who open the season against Wofford College on Friday at the Coors Events Center, were picked sixth.

"I think there's five or six different teams that can do a great job," Miller said. "We have a great example a year ago with Colorado that was under the radar, but at the end of the day in March, they were one of the best teams in our conference. They represented us in the NCAA Tournament and won a game in the NCAA Tournament. This year I think we have a number of teams that can follow that."

Last year the bottom of the Pac-12 was dreadful as USC finished with an RPI of 265 and Utah with an RPI of 270.

The teams projected to finish in the bottom half of the conference need to win their share of non-conference games and at least be in position for NIT and CBI bids at the end of the season.

"Every league in the country has good teams at the top. I don't care what league your talking about. The Big Sky has good teams at the top," Boyle said. "But it's the teams in the middle and probably even more importantly the teams at the bottom where your conference is tested. ...

"If you look at the lower echelon teams from last year, they're not going to necessarily be lower echelon teams this year. But somebody will. We just want to make sure it's not the Buffaloes."

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